Improvement in mechanical typographers



No. 37,941. PATENTED MAR. 16, 1869.

- c r JOHNSON, JR.

MECHANICAL TYPOGRAPHBB.

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PATENTED MAR. 16, 1869.

' -G. P. JOHNSON, Jlh

MECHANICAL TYP-OGRAPHER.

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0. P. JQHNSON, JR; MECHANICAL TYPOGRAPHER.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

T a 11 m Inventor V Wiignesses I UNITED ,S'IATESl-IEATENT OFFICE.

OHARLES r. onnson, .nr, or 'owneo, new Your;

)MPROVEMENT m MECHANIC-AL TYPOGRAPHERS;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 87,941, dated March 16,1869.

To to whom it may concern Be it known that I CHARLES F. J OHNSON, Jr.,of the village of Owego, in the county of" T-ioga and State of New York,have invented a new and useful machine for the purpose of formingstereotype-plates, or the matrices or molds .from which stereotypeplatesmay be elect'rotyped or cast, withoutthe use of the movable types atpresent used in-printin g. I

. denominate my machine The Stereotype-Ma chine, and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of theoperation and construction of the same, reference being had to theannexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure-l is a plan from above; Fig. 2,a side view from the left of Fig. 1;Fig. 3, a side view from the upper side of Fig. 1; and the severalfigures on Sheet 3, separate views of detached parts, to be more fullyreferred to and "explained hereafter.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, AA is a horizontal wheel, which I deno'minate thetype-wheel, capable of turning on the central pin or axis B. This wheelmaybe turned by hand, or a slow rotation-about twenty revolutions perminute-may be imparted to it through the intervention of a train'run bya weight, the fly gearing into teeth on its outer periphery. This wheelis horizontal, and'near its edge are inserted the cylindrical verticalpins 0 G inholes made for their reception. They are capable of endmotion, and in thedrawings are represented in their lowest position.They are intended to work with friction suhicient to retain them in.position, so that theywill not fall with their own weight. I, Should itbe found necessary, a spring can be inserted by the side of each, toprevent them from drop, ping. I will denominate them keys. A notch isturned in the lower corner'of the wheel. r

When the keys are in theirlowest position their ends project into. thisspace, as shown at- Fig. 2. Vv'hen they are in their highest posi-.

tion their ends are flush with the bottom of the hole, the head of thekey taking the position represented by the dotted lines at J, Fig.

'3. Corresponding to each of these keys is a punch, a a a, Figs. 1, 2,and 3. These punches also work vertically in holes in the wheel.

They are held in their position by spiral springs around them. One ofthese spiral springs is indicated by the dotted red lines at b b,

Fig. The part of the. punches below the head 1s also dotted in red ink,Figs. 2 and 3, 1n order to distinguish it.

- The head ofthe punch is made flat, and

works in a gain in the raised p'artof the wheel, as shown in Fig. 1. Thelower part is round.

. The wide head will prevent turning.

The upper part of the hole is made large enough to receive the spiralsprings, the bottom of the springs resting on the shoulder thus formed,and the wide head of the punch resting on the top of the spring. Thebottom of the hole fits the shank of the punch closely.

It is evident that the punches can be depressed slightly if 'force isapplied to them,

rection of the line at y. This bed is worked through the medium of thescrew f f, working in a nut in the lower part of the bed.

The screw is turned by means'oi' the ratchet g, ina manner to be moreparticularly de scribed hereafter. This lower bed carries an upper one,71, sliding in guides on the top of the lower one, and capable of amotion at right angles to the motion of the lower one. It is to be movedby the screw 73 i, which-is to be turnedby hand. On this is to betemporarily fastened a plate of lead or other malleable inaterial, forthe purpose of receiving the successive impressions of the type-punches.The lower bed, carrying on it the upper one,

is to be moved the distance requisite for each successive letter, theupper one the distance requisite for each successive line.

The lead plate will be clamped in a 1101i zontal position onto the upperbed at F.

I will now explain how the letter which is on this bed-plate is asliding bed, E E, working in horizontal guides in the dito lie impressedis arrested in its proper po* sition and forced downward into the platewhich is to receive the impression. Attached to the frame are twoupright pieces, G G, which firmly support a cross-piece, H H, Figs. 1,2, and 3. This is high enough to allow the sliding beds and the plate onthem to pass under it, and is cut out, as shown, to receive the wheel.WVhen the keys are in their highest position'there is no obstacleoffered to the free rotation of the type-wheel. \Vhen, however, any keyis pushed down, the wheel moves till this key reaches the point K, Fig.1 The bottom of the key then strikes the projection on the lower part ofthe cross-piece, and the wheel is stopped. This projection is shown inthe view and section in Figs. 7 and 8.

f Fig. 8 represents the screw and feed motion, with the beds andtype-wheel detached, and a portion of the cross-piece. Fig. 7 is asection, vertical, on the line Z V. The projection is shown at L, and ison the lower part of the cross-piece, and fills the notch in the lowerpart of the wheeL- When the wheel is broughtto rest, by reason of theend of the key having been pushed down far enough to strike it, thepunch corresponding to this key is over the lead plate, in the properposition, relative to it, to be impressed into the plate. The centreofthe punch is on the line X Y. i

I will now explain how this punch is forced down, the key raised to itsoriginal position, allowing the wheel to move on, and the bed beneathmoved, so as to be in position to re- 7 ceive the next letter, or,rather, punch. On

the under side of the projection is a slide, m, Figs. 7, 5, and 8,working endwise in'a groove, and its end extending beyond the edge ofthe projection. The position of this slide is representedin Figs. 1, 2,and 3 by the dotted red lines at M M. The end of the pin or key whichhas been pushed down strikes in its revolu- .tion the end of this slideand forces it back till the key is brought to rest by bringing upagainst the projection referred to. The other end of this slide bearsagainst a notch in the cam-shapedwheel m on the rock-shaft A slightrotary motion will thus be imparted to the rock-shaft. On thisrock-shaft are two "other wheels, or arms, one at o, the other tion nowconsidered,- and flies round till it is caughtby the lower jaw, thusmaking nearly an entire revolution. I

Figs. 6, 9, and 10, show three views of the escapement, from which itsaction can be readily understood.

On the shaft of the escapement-wheel isa cam, 3, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4. Inits revolution the out to its former position.

worked so that the tooth passes the lower I jaw and is held by theupper; and the pawl cam willdepress the lever t, turning on the centert, and held up by the springt. The bent head of this lever, coming onthe head of the type in position, will push it down, and impress theface of the punch in the lead plate underneath. The first half of therevolution oi the cam-will impress the letter; the last hall will raisethe key which held the wheel still. This is effected by means of thebent lever 121," Fig. 4, the toe of which projects .over the wheel. andunder a key, into ajnotoh in the head of the key. This bent lever isalso represented in position on Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The

key being thus raised above the projection, the wheel is free to moveon.

- The spiral spring c, attached to the frame and to the wheel 1;, nowbrings the rock-shaft to its original posit-ion. The slide m is pushedThe escapement is 10, which had been carried over one or more teeth ofthe ratchet, will, in its reverse motion, rotate the screw f acorresponding amount. This will, of course, work the bed out, and carrythe plate to the position proper for the next letter. The bottoms of theletters will be parallel to the line as J.

The length of all the punches must be the same, that all impressions maybe of equal depth. It is evident that the plate must be 'moved more orless, according as a narrow or reverse motion, turn the feed-screw fthrough less of a revolution. The amount cut away will thus regulate themotion of the plate.

To move the plate without making any impression, so as to leave a spacebetween two words, it will only-be necessary to have one of v the keyswithout any type-punch corresponding. When this is pushed down and comesinto position all the operations, except impressing the letter, will beperformed.

011 a working machine it would be necessary to have, at least; enoughkeys for one full alphabet of small letters and capitals, be-

side numerals and marks of punctuation. The character corresponding to akey should, of

course, be plainly represented on the top of the key.

In operating this machine, the operator sits or stands on the lower sidetoward Y, Fig. 1, and pushes down, in succession, from left to right,the keys corresponding to the letters of the word he wishes to impress,turning the wheel at the same time from right to left. The keys he haspushed down come, in succession, under the lever, and the punchescorrespond- 81.941 7 I v i 3 ing areimpressed in their proper order. When he comes-to the end of aword he pushes down the key corresponding toa blank space. When thisucom'es into position the cam makes a revs--lutiou; but no-impressionis made.- The plate 1smoved, however,am1 thenext letterthat is impressed is at-a distance from the lastcorresponding to the distance or space between two words. When hecomes'to the end of a line the click or pawlninst be raised and. the

- screw f turned back by hand. Then the other. screw, z, must be turned,so as to present a fresh surface of the plate on whichto impress the:

next line.

It ordinary or reliefpunches are used a' matrix-plate will be formed,from. which an electrotype-platemayhc -taken, as well as from theplaster mold now used for that purpose. l.

I do not wish to confine myself to the use of alead matrix, for preparedpapier-mach or copper might be substituted; and from such a matrix astereotype-plate might be cast-in type-metal. If hollow or intagliopunches are substituted, a reliefiplate might be formed in type-metal orlead, from which the necessary impressions'on paper could-he directlystruck.

{As to material, the frame, sliding beds, and type-wheel should be madeof castirom the punches, cam-shafts, and levers, of steel; and

the gear-wheels of composition or cast-iron.

' 7' Claims.

"theTrock-shaft n, the ratchet g, and. the keys;

0, constituting the feed-motion of the machine, substantially as setforth. H

3. I claim producing the variable feed of the upper bed-plate, adaptedto successive letters of different widths by modifications of this] ysubstantially as. shown.

'4. I claim, in combination with each other,

the escapement and cam movements, substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

I '-GHARLES 1 JOHNSON, JR. (Witnesses: 7

, HENRY S. MAoKm'rosH,

CHARLES J. WHITE.

